


A True Deku

by The_Great_Nation



Series: The life of Bakugou Izuku [2]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Child Murder, Dehumanization, Gen, Izuku is a nomu, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Muteness, Nomus do not have genders, Quirk Experimentation (My Hero Academia), Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22901602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Great_Nation/pseuds/The_Great_Nation
Summary: They were born to be a brainless husk. A vessel to bare a quirk strong enough to heal Sensei.-Izuku's quirk and backstory are inspired by Hollow Knight, but it is not necessary to have seen or played to understand.
Series: The life of Bakugou Izuku [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643749
Comments: 7
Kudos: 384





	1. A True Deku

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Once again stress has gotten to me and thus this story has been written. All spelling mistakes are my own and there are sure to be plenty cause I don't proofread my de-stress works. If you see anything please let me know in the comments below.

They stared down at the object that had been placed in their hands. They should be curious, but curiosity had no place in a Nomu. They were born to be a brainless husk. Vessels to bare a quirk strong enough to help Sensei.

“You can’t just hand it the broom, idiot. You have to tell it what to do. These things can’t do jack without orders. I still think this is a lost cause. I doubt it even knows how to clean.”

“Well, then I’ll just show it what to do! I’ve only worked here for like a week so stop hounding my ass with things you assume I know, geez. Alright, Nomu I need you to start sweeping up and down the halls.”

They blinked up at the man giving them instructions. They did not know what this sweeping was meant to be. Was it a fighting technique? Was this strange object a weapon? As the order was unclear they continued to stare for it was all they could do with no voice to question.

“Fucking told you. Nomu’s are called Nomu for a reason. Bet this one will end up being a Deku soon enough, it doesn’t look particularly bright, nor has it developed a quirk yet.”

These were all true things. They knew they should have a quirk because they hadn’t been disposed of after the initial tests. They had stood in line with all of their siblings soon after their emergence as Sensei came into the room. The man had been wheeled past each Nomu looking over them for some flaw only he could see.

Every once and a while he would point at one of the artificial children and that child would be stamped with the red kanji for DEKU. Useless. Sensei had no need for the quirk less. They were created to bear a quirk after all. Those siblings had failed to meet the easiest requirement. 

They never saw those siblings again, nor did they see the sibling that failed to follow orders. Perhaps they were really Nomu and didn’t even have the mind to process simple orders. Maybe someone had forgotten to give them any senses and they could do little more than stand still in complete darkness unable to hear, smell, or feel anything around them. They did not know nor did they care to dwell on the thoughts.

“Ugh, just you wait, when I get it to start picking up our duties you’ll be kissing my ass in gratitude. Listen you just gotta move this broom back and forth. Yeah like that now do that till all the dust goes in the corner. Perfect. Now do that till you do it for the whole floor then go back to your room, okay.”

They stared at this broom. They supposed they understood what sweeping was now and no reason to delay in executing the orders given.

From that night onward those men would come back to the room they and their siblings slept in and would pick them from their spot in the front of the room. Most of the siblings would continue sleeping, especially the ones further back in the room. All of them laying one by one so deathly still they all looked like corpses. They could tell who was awake because their breathing would pick up. They could see little eyes peeking out from under lashes some blank and some with emotion. 

Those siblings would soon be dead, emotion had no place in a Nomu and hiding could only last so long. 

It was after a month that a new order was issued. Rather than the two men coming, only one came the older one.

“Stupid Murasaki getting sick making me pick up over time. Nomu, start cleaning and don’t stop till the whole place is spotless.”

The elderly man went stomping off in the direction of the break room leaving them alone with their broom. Usually, they would be tasked with only cleaning this one floor, never had they been ordered to clean the whole building. They didn’t even know how big the building really was, as a Nomu they had only been taken to the testing floor and the laboratory floor, never had they gone beyond. However, an order was an order.

They started sweeping their floor and finished in record time. If they were to clean the entire place they must go faster as to not keep the man waiting. That was an order from long ago, one of the first. Don’t keep your handlers waiting. They were to follow all past orders unless told to stop or given new ones. That is why they didn’t feel apprehension as they took the elevator to the next floor. 

Don’t go anywhere alone. Was another order, but this order was meant for them alone.  
Don’t go to any of the floors above. They had to clean the whole place.

They stepped off the elevator into the laboratory floor. The walls were lined with vats that contained their future siblings still much too small to be out of the tank. Countless computers dimly lit the room running programs of unknown purpose. This floor was trickier to sweep due to the cables and desks. There was also blood in one of the examination rooms that did not disappear when swept. They should clean it, but they did not know-how. Perhaps it was their blood, their back was still smarting with the wounds inflicted to test for healing quirks. They left the room, they preferred to forget about the pain although it was harder to forget than their siblings. 

They returned to the elevator… there were so many buttons. Tonight would be long and they hoped there would be no combat quirk testing in the morning. While Nomu’s needed less sleep than humans they had been getting such little sleep with their duties to clean.

One by one they cleaned the floors. By far the easiest to clean was the floor with only two rooms. One with a small pane of glass that looked into a completely empty room with strange vents all over it. They did not like the smell of the place and cleaned quickly on this floor. 

After two more floors, they made it to a floor with another elevator. This elevator held only 4 buttons B, P, 1, and 2. They assumed they were on B and hit the button with the P. This floor was easy because most of it was cut off by walls and metal doors they could not open. Next, they chose the floor with the one on it. Maybe they would get lucky and they would have lessons today. They had been taught to count only recently so orders were easier to understand. 

On the first floor, they stood stock-still at the sight ahead of them. From the outside, they could see light shining in through a window. The natural light that held a pale glow so unlike the blaring luminist lights of the labs and testing areas. Their body only moved when the elevator doors began to shut.

They quickly stepped off and looked around at their surroundings. It didn’t look like any room they had seen before, except maybe the lounge where the helpers took their breaks. There was a computer mounted into the corner wall and chairs arranged around the perimeter of the room. There was also a smaller room with half walls and desks. How strange. They began to clean. They cleaned this big room and moved to the rest of the floor. Ah, the rest of the rooms were labs. In the center of each room, there was a small desk and a familiar chair. 

By the time they reached the second room the building seemed to be getting gradually brighter. Was there something wrong with the lights outside? At least the light helped them see where they cleaning. 

They were proud of their work. They had managed to clean the whole building as ordered now they could hope to get some sleep. They exited the last room on the second floor. It had been easy to clean with only a large desk and three chairs inhabiting the room. As they headed to the elevator they only had a brief moment to recognize the fact that the light of the elevator was no longer at 2 but was now at 1. How odd.

They reached out to press the button to summon the machine when the doors suddenly opened. Perhaps if they were a normal child they would have jumped back in freight or gave a squeal of surprise, but they did neither. Sure they were startled, but a real Nomu would never behave in such a way.

From the elevator, a beautiful green-haired woman stepped out. She was slight and the long locks were nearly the same shade of green as their own. She was clearly human because as soon as she saw them she let out a squeak and grasped a hand over her heart.

“Oh, don’t scare me like that! Wait, what's a kid doing here so early. Oh my, could they have been left here overnight? They’re wearing a hospital gown so that must be it. How does someone forget their child?” 

The woman broke off into a stream of mumbles as she exited the elevator. They were going to head into the elevator and back down to their room, but the woman was mumbling so fast that they couldn’t tell if they were issuing orders in between the words. They had heard a “wait” somewhere in there so they would wait unless told to head back to their room.

The doors closed next to them with a small clang and this seemed to catch the woman’s attention.

“Oh my, so um, what’s your name sweetie? Are you here by yourself or are your Mama and Papa around?”

They didn’t have a name, only the title of Nomu, and they didn’t know how to respond to the later questions. They weren’t alone now that the woman was here and they didn’t know what a Mama or Papa was. Another cleaning method?

They resorted to their default and simply stared back at the woman.

“Okay Inko, the child doesn’t talk. Are they too young, lord you and Hisashi were thinking about having kids but you can’t even tell what age the kid in front of you is! Hell, you can’t even tell if they’re a boy or girl, oh no! I cursed in front of the kid. Ah, don’t repeat anything I just said, okay kid!?”

They could do that. Not saying anything was their second strongest skill next to staring blankly. They nodded their head.

“Good, so you uh can understand me huh. Do you know where your parents are? Or at least whoever was in charge of taking care of you?”

Again they didn’t know anything about parents, but they did know who was in charge of them. That was the elderly handler. They nodded and moved to call upon the elevator once more. The doors opened swiftly and they stepped through.

“Ah, wait kid don’t just go off on your own. Can you please take my hand, I don’t want you to get lost? I’ll make sure you end up with your parents. You can trust Auntie Inko for that! I promise to not leave you before then, what do you think about that plan? Good, good, alright… you can do this Inko, it’s only a kid.”

Maybe a parent was another name for a handler. She also gave another order they could follow even if it was an odd one. They could hold her hand with ease and so they did. Their next order was even odder. What did they think of the plan? Nomu weren't supposed to think, but this was an order. What should they think of such an order?

As the two of them dropped down three floors to the basement they pondered for the first time on their thoughts rather than suppress then. What did they think? What did it mean to think?

They thought it was all silly, they decided at last. They were capable of heading back to their room without the woman and they certainly could do so without getting lost so holding hands was not necessary. However, now that they were thinking about it… having Inko’s hand in their own was quite nice. They felt heat rise in their cheeks and they did not know why. Was this a side effect of thinking? 

\---

…They didn’t know what they thought about that.  


\---  
  
Ever since their run in with the woman no one had come to get them to clean during sleeping hours. The memory of that night made them sad so they did what they always did.

They tried to forget.

They tried to forget the screaming of the woman as she opened the door to see what she thought was a room full of dead children. 

They tried to forget how nice it felt to be in her arms as she picked them up and started to run to the elevator. 

They tried to forget how the warmth of her arms became something sticky as she collapsed on top of them.

They tried to forget the last of the strange orders to him. 

“… please take my hand!”  
“what do you think?”  
“Run! Run, get help kid.”  
“… Live… please live…”

The last was so quiet they almost missed. They even believed they might have imagined it with the thoughts she had given them.

They tried to forget what happened next.

Two of the orders had ended since that night. When they had tried to run, her shaking hand still held in their own tiny one, an order was yelled at them.

“Stop! Get away from that woman.”

And so they did. She had sobbed as they let go and had issued the last order then. The elderly handler had not heard the words for he was too far away. 

They stepped away from her their eyes staring straight into hers as they walked backward. They looked into the green and wondered what their own eyes looked like. They hoped it was beautiful as hers, even if they were slightly less pretty now with her tears and redness. They had looked much nicer when she smiled.

They kept their eyes on the woman’s eyes because if they looked elsewhere they would see a sea of red covering the floor. Soon more men came and yelling began.

They tried to forget how those green eyes became as blank as their siblings. A blankness that came with death. 

These memories hurt and as the pain on their back it was hard to forget. The pain was not going away no matter how hard they tried to forget.

Hell, even though they had forgotten the woman’s name pain still came when they thought about her. In fact, it was even worse now that they had forgotten it. A different pain came and they thought maybe they shouldn’t have forgotten it. 

After the shouting ended they were escorted to the showers where they were hosed down before being returned for their room. Now that it was clearly waking hours they were greeted with the gaze of all of their remaining siblings for a few brief moments before the door was closed behind them and darkness settled into the room.

No one came to get them or any of the siblings for the rest of the day. They had fallen asleep soon after it became clear no one was coming for them. They were tired and thinking as much as they were now was not helping. 

As they slept something new happened. They knew they were sleeping, but they seemed to be back upstairs with Inko. They were sitting in the big room with all the chairs staring out of the big windows at the strange lights in the sky. She was holding their hand. It was warm. It was nice.

At last, they looked over and it was then they noticed her eyes. They were dead, she was dead. This was not real. 

They opened their eyes to darkness. Their mouth was open and they were sure if they had a voice they would be screaming. Just like her.

Despite their tiredness, they did not go back to sleep. 

\---

The next month was terrible. While they were a decent fighter before the events with the woman even the thought of drawing blood brought a cold sweat to their skin. It caused them to hesitate. It caused them to no longer be Nomu.

.Scars littered their body and every movement ached. Since they stopped fighting back the strange energy that always filled them after a fight was no longer found. With this lack of energy, their wounds took so much longer to heal if they ever did at all.

The end of the month was when it would all end. They knew this and they knew their siblings also knew this. They weren’t sure why but they had been told at the beginning that if they didn’t show signs of a quirk or if they exhibited a useless quirk they would have to be discarded. They needed worthy Nomus, not Dekus. The next batch of siblings would soon be ready to leave their tanks so this generation was no longer needed.

From the thousand or so siblings that had been created with them, half had been disposed of already. Sometimes thinking about it make them want to die as well. It would stop the pain they were always in. Now that they neared the end handling was rough and the tests so much harsher.

The rest of their siblings seemed to be anticipating the end as well. Only three siblings had been found to have “useful” quirks. One was a sibling with bright red wings. They had been taken during the first test, but not as a Deku, as a success. They wondered where they were.

The next was a sibling who bled acid. They too were found early. They had been taken after the first pain test. Once the sharp blade of the scalpel broke skin it began to dissolve in the child’s blood. 

Last was a sibling who’s strength became inhumanly strong as long as they stood on one leg. During one of the training matches, they had heard a loud crunch and they knew bone had been broken. The broken sibling despite the pain had stood on their one good leg and threw a punch at the sibling that was still advancing on them. That culprit behind the broken bone had ended up nothing more than paste on the wall after a punch from their injured sibling.

That had been months ago. Before the incident. No one had been taken since. None of them had hope that their own quirks would appear or save them. What use did the almighty Sensei have for fingers that could glow in the dark or eyes that could be pulled from their sockets?

In the end, they knew they were no Nomu, they were a Deku like all the others.  


They were being led to the floor with two rooms. They recognized the room they had cleaned what felt like so long ago.

While they were the first out of the sleeping room and into the elevator they were also the last to leave. Over the past couple of days, Siblings had been called forth to enter the elevator. None of them returned and they all knew why. They went in what must be the order they were created because they could vaguely remember the siblings around them being the same as the ones around them in the first test after their emergence. 

How odd that all these months later they would meet the same fate as the other green haired sibling next to them that day had. Perhaps they were twins, both of them little green-haired Dekus although it took them a little while longer to see that they were one as well. Maybe in another life, the two of them could have been the children of that woman. They think it was green just like their own.

As they exited the elevator calm as the rest of their siblings in the face of their inevitable death they caught a glance in what used to be the window of the first room. Now it was tinted so that it became a simple mirror. 

They were able to see themselves full for the first time. Indeed they had green hair, but they knew that from all the times it had fallen out in clumps due to the drugs, or when it was torn out by their own hands in moments of weakness.

They noticed how deathly pale their skin was with the only color coming from the dark circles under their eyes… their eyes… they were green.

Green eyes.

They took a step forward towards the door leading only to death.

Green eyes. Hadn’t they wished they had green eyes? Why?

It didn’t matter now because they were going to die.

Die.

Cease to exits. No longer living.

“… Live… please live…”

It was an order, but not from any of the handlers in the room and certainly not from their siblings. They stilled and the rest of the siblings piled into the second room. The guards were now calling to them.

“Deku, get in the room. Did it break or something.”

“Maybe it’s scared.”

“No way these things can’t feel. Pretty sure they took that out with the voices. Man am I glad for that. A kid screaming is one of the most annoying sounds you’ll ever hear. Did you know in the first generation there was a Nomu who screamed so loud when it got stabbed that it ruptured the eardrums of one of the docs.”

“Hah, I wished I had seen that!”

Their banter went over their head. If they went in that room they would die. They were ordered to live. But the guards essentially just ordered them to die. Only new orders were important, old one’s falling in favor of the current ones. 

“What do you think?”

They had also been ordered to think. To have thoughts of their own outside orders. They hadn’t been ordered to feel or have desires, but it came with having thoughts. It was outside of their control.

They think that wanted to live. No. They knew they wanted to live. They wanted to feel arms around them again holding them close. They wanted to sit and look at the lights in the sky. They wanted to stop feeling pain for sure, but they did not want to die.

A handler came forth to grab them. 

For the first time since the incident they fought. With teeth and long nails jagged from being broken, they caused the handler to bleed and let go of them. They turned to the elevator. To safety, to go anywhere that was not in the room of death.

The shouting began but they ignored it. They felt the energy dwelling beneath their skin helping them ignore the pain from past experiments. 

More hands grabbed at them before the elevator could reach the floor. Too many hands. No matter how they bit, slashed, or kicked escape was futile. They were so small compared to the big hands hauling them to the door. Roughly they were thrown through the opening and they caught a brief glimpse of the elevator doors opening before the opening was sealed.

They had so much energy from their attacks against the guards and they could feel it bubbling just beneath their skin.

Live.

They were about to let it bubble forth out of their body when gas started to enter from the vents. It was quick to choke and burn and around the room siblings began to fall hacking and clawing at throats. 

Mouths were wide open in silent screams that only made them inhale the gas that much faster. They were used to pain and nowhere as stupid as the handlers thought them to be. Once they could think things became easier. They had to stop breathing this gas, they had to focus on finding a way out.

But it was all futile, by the time they had reached this conclusion they had already inhaled a fair bit of the gas. It burned like poison but so much worse and it was everywhere. Some of the weaker siblings began to stop struggling with their hands growing still and their eyes losing the touch of life. Their mouths were still open however in an endless silent scream. 

Soon standing became too much. They needed to focus. 

They coughed up blood. Focus. You can’t die here.

They focused everything they could on their one goal. Live. You can’t die here.

The burn faded and they opened their eyes and turned their head to face the now endless sea of small faces contorted in pain. 

They needed to keep focusing. Even if the gas was gone the damage was done and if they didn’t do anything they would die.

Focus.

The energy within them was no longer plentiful, they would soon run out. They were so close. They couldn’t die here!

The took a breath and it no longer hurt and lacked the wet rasp it had gained under the effects of the gas. They were alive. They heard a door open behind them and voices filtered in. They were alive, but they could not stay awake. They hoped the guards would not notice how they still breathed. How their heart still beats in a way that sounded thunderous in their own head.

They were lost to the world of sleep before they could find out if they had been found. It was up to fate now. I am alive, but for how long?  
  


\---

They awoke surrounded by a cold and heavy weight. It was dark and they could only see the faintest bit of light shining through whatever was on them.

They shifted trying to unpin themselves. As they struggled they brushed up against… was that hair? Their efforts redoubled. Soon their arm was no longer pinned beneath what they were sure was somebody's head. They used this arm to move the body on top of them. 

The body slowly rolled away and they couldn’t help but stare at the sky above them. It was the lights from that night so long ago. There was now another light, one that was much bigger than the others and it covered them in a pale glow. 

Under this light, they sat up and were able to look around. They had indeed been lying beneath and on top of bodies. They were in a hole of some kind several feet into the ground. The width of the hole was not nearly as large as it’s depths but that said little. For as far as they could see the hole was filled with the corpses of their siblings.

Some they recognized as the ones who were sent to the death room with them, others were from before. They wondered how deep the hole was and how many past generations of siblings lay beneath.

In the face of so much death, it dawned on them that they were alive. Alive. 

“…Live!”

They had done just so.

They failed to die. They were truly a Deku if they had failed to even die when ordered to do so! They thought this emotion they felt might be happiness. For the first time in their life, they smiled.


	2. Universe Notes

So Sensei after his fight with All Might decided that he needed more quirks if just one person could almost kill him. Instead of searching the world for quirks he decides to create his own. He creates the artificial humans "Nomus" for this purpose. The goal is to create Nomu with either a strong combat quirk or one that could be used to heal the injuries Sensei sustained while fighting. 

The first generation was small and the most human like in appearance, abilities, and mannerisms. They were very similar to human children and Sensei didn't like that. Too many flaws were apparent and none of them had a strong or useful quirk. They were deemed to be Dekus and were killed.

All subsequent Nomu were massed produced and were significantly less human. Unlike the first generation, these Nomu lacked a sense of taste and smell ( deemed useless by OFA) and required much less food and sleep than a normal human. They were also pre-designed to follow orders absolutely. Having no emotions or thoughts usually came with that , but there were exceptions. Usually for those that could feel and think on their own it came with a lot of trouble. Feelings were dampened and when felt did not last long. 

When Nomu are created they start out as a fetus and are then grown in tanks filled with an aging fluid that AFO can create. This fluid takes several months to age a person a minimum of 4 years. Since the Nomu were being mass produced and quirks appeared at 4 that was the age determined for the Nomu. (This may not be the case for later generations). Nomu from each generation are kept alive for as long as it takes to get the next generation with a few exceptions.

There are two types of Nomu. The perfect Nomu, one that has a useful quirk, has no mind of it's own, and follows orders and a Deku. Deku's are the Nomu either with no quirk, useless quirks, or just Nomu's that failed to discover their quirk before the next generation arrived. The quirkless are immediately killed because they are totally useless. The perfect Nomu have their quirk absorbed by Sensei and are then killed ( A rare few keep their quirks and are sent off for training. Izuku knows nothing about this). Izuku never mentioned a quirk and no one noticed so they became a Deku. (Although their quirk might have a power sensei would be interested in).

Story starts with the first fanfic of Katsuki finding Izuku in the woods. 

After the disposal of the siblings and Izuku into what will be known as the "Hell Hole" Izuku wanders for a while before being found and helped by the young Bakugou. Since the Nomu are not human they don't decompose so if there is ever a return to the hell hole then it'll not be a pleasant sight. No one from the Nomu creation process knows Izuku is alive nor will Izuku be immediately recognized as a Nomu. Time spent with the Bakugou family and Inko's dying "order" assures this.

The Nomu factory exists under a regular small time clinic. Inko was a nurse there and was getting to work early when she found Izuku. She was not supposed to find out about what was going on and when she tried to escape with Izuku she was killed along with the guard that gave Izuku cleaning duty. 

As for Izuku's quirk i'm thinking of calling it Soul. By striking those they deem enemies Izuku gains an unseen energy they call Soul. Soul can be used to heal or it can be used to attack. Izuku has never used the attack part so far, but was about to before the gas came into the room. The ability in Hollow Knight is known as the Vengeful Spirit and it is basically like a fireball but pure white and made of Soul. It depletes the target of energy leaving them fatigued if hit and it also causes them to be forced back. This attack also blows Izuku backward with the force a small bit.

Future abilities from the game will appear and be explained, but those who have played know what they will be. Izuku has often been seen as an angel after all. 

If you have any ideas for powers or plots me know below. Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the end! How are y'all doing on this fine day? So I'm gonna take this time to explain a little bit about the universe in the next chapter, so please enjoy it!


End file.
